


Heartstone: Gold and Bubblegum

by Kittycatkyla23



Series: Heartstone [2]
Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Anal Sex, Consensual Sex, Dubious Consent, Harpies, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Normalized Rape, Original Monster Designs, Rape Culture, Rough Sex, Steampunk elements, Wordcount: Over 10.000, original concepts, star-crossed lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:15:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21962695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittycatkyla23/pseuds/Kittycatkyla23
Summary: Delic has always been someone to go with the flow. He rarely made arguments, rarely went against the grain. Such a way of existing left many missed opportunities in Delic's young life. But such a way of living was just simpler.Such was the reasoning behind his Masculine-Cue. It was easier to just go as a hunting group than to do it solo--even though that went against the rules of the Masculine-Cue. He wouldn't be showing his skills as an individual, but that didn't matter when it was the quickest way to get a Heartstone Brand.However, Delic's simple way of thinking would lead to the greatest opportunity of his days. For that was how Delic met young Hibiya, a Heartstone who would change Delic's whole life forever.
Relationships: Delic/Hibiya (Durarara!!)
Series: Heartstone [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1581079
Comments: 3
Kudos: 12
Collections: Hunter Series Concept Writes





	Heartstone: Gold and Bubblegum

“Morning, Tsuki.” Tsugaru said.

“M-morning.” The youngest brother in the house said sheepishly.

“Breakfast is ready.”

“Th-thank you. Um, um…um…”

“There’s enough for Roppi-san.”

Tsuki looked at him thankful then ashamed. He nodded. “Th-thank you.”

Throughout this exchange, Delic sat at the dinner table, quiet and unmoving. He had his chin resting in his hand as he stared at his little brother.

“Roppi should come eat with us.” Delic finally stated. “He shouldn’t be hiding in your room like a dirty little secret.”

Tsuki looked even more ashamed as he looked over at Delic. “He-he’s not sure—we’re not sure if th-that’s um…Is he re-really allowed to?”

“Of course, he is.” Tsugaru announced. “He can’t remain in your room for nine months.”

Tsuki didn’t look so sure. But he nodded all the same. “O-okay…”

With that, the red-eyed blond turned around and went to the engawa. Delic watched him go. A small pit of jealousy burned in his chest. Delic would be lying if he said he wasn’t envious of the change his little brother was making.

If only Delic had made this first step during his Masculine-Cue, then Delic would be the driving force behind great change for his people while living with a beautiful Heartstone that loved him greatly.

He had the Heartstone.

He had the love.

He just lacked the courage to step out of line. No, not step out of line. He lacked the courage to be the change that was needed. He had always been the type to just go with the flow. If a girl wanted to date, he would agree and go along with it. If a girl wanted sex, he would agree and go along with it. When he was told to join a group for his Masculine-Cue, he went with it. Things were just easier if he didn’t go against the flow.

He regretted that now. He wished he could go back and change everything.

Tsuki returned with his Heartstone. The black-and-red feathered man looked at the two blonds with obvious suspicion. Nevertheless, he kept his head held high with confidence in his step. Tsuki guided him to sit down at the table by Delic. The youngest blond then went to get breakfast. He returned with two bowls of tomago gohan*. He placed one in front of Roppi and the other in front of his chair across the table. Roppi looked down at it.

“What is this?” The Heartstone asked.

“It’s t-tomago gohan.”

Roppi glowered up at him.

“Egg and rice.” Delic said.

Roppi looked at him. “What’s rice?”

“The grainy stuff under the egg.”

Roppi looked down at his food with a cocked brow.

“I’m guessing they don’t have rice in your clan.” Delic stated.

“No, we don’t. Where’s the spoon?”

“The chopsticks.”

Roppi glowered in annoyance as he picked up the two sticks. “These things?”

“Yeah.”

“How am I supposed to get a mouthful with sticks?”

Delic couldn’t help but chuckle. Tsugaru came into the dining room with two bowls, a spoon and some chopsticks on top of the bowls. He put one in front of Delic. The other he put at the end of the table for himself. He then held the spoon out to Roppi.

“Here.” The blue blond said.

“…Thanks.” Roppi took it with his black-clawed hand.

“Wh-whip up the egg with-with the rice.” Tsuki said. “The rice will coo-cook the egg, so you don’t have to ea-eat it raw if you stir it up.”

Roppi didn’t do as Tsuki suggested and just took a scoop of rice and clear egg whites. He took a bite. Roppi’s eyes widened with surprise.

“The ‘rice’ stuff is good. It’s a little bland though.”

“Here, soy sauce.” Delic held out a small glass jar of the brown liquid. “Put a little on your rice. Too much will overpower your meal.”

Roppi took it. He tilted the jar and a long stream came out. Roppi gasped and tilted it upright quickly.

“It came out fast!”

“Ah, sorry.” Delic took his hand off his chin. “Should have told you that.”

“It’s fine.”

Roppi put the jar down. He took a spoonful of the now brown rice. He immediately scrunched up one eye as the intense flavor hit him. The raven took a scoop of the yoke, breaking it and sipped on the raw egg.

“That hits like a raging dugma.”

“Yeah.” Tsugaru chuckled. “Soy sauce is quite strong if you put too much on.”

“I’ll remember that.”

“Um, Ro-Roppi-san,” Tsuki started, “are-are you okay eating the egg r-raw? It can-can’t taste th-that good.”

Roppi cocked a brow as he looked up at him. He swallowed his mouthful of food. “Listen, Tsuki, Coravak’s don’t have this thing you guys call ‘cooking’. Fire is something man created and considering our arms, we’re walking fire hazards.”

Roppi raised his winged arm up for emphasis. The feathers ruffled with a twitch of his body and he put the wing back down.

Tsuki’s eyes stretched wide. “You-you don’t—then how do you st-stay warm in the winter?”

“We hibernate, remember?”

“No, I know. But you-you said you guys wake up in the middle to hunt. And how-how do you unthaw your food that you had saved?”

“What’s unthaw?”

“Wh-when something’s frozen and you have to let it warm up before you can eat it.”

“Oh, we don’t. We just tear off pieces and chew on it until it thaws in our mouth.”

“…Oh…Um, do-do you guys eat meat raw then?”

“Duh.”

“B-but aren’t you worried? Don-don’t you guys get sick?!”

Roppi cocked a brow. “Sick from food?”

“Yeah!”

“Why would we get sick from food?”

“B-because bacteria and-and contaminated food.”

“That is way too many words I do not understand.”

“Sorry. Um…”

“Let me ask you, Tsuki.” Roppi picked up another scoop of egg white, rice and soy sauce. “Does your dog get sick when he eats raw meat?”

“Um, no.”

“Then why should I get sick from it?” Roppi put the spoon in his mouth. “Our stomachs aren’t as weak as humans.”

“But you’re half-human, aren’t you?” Delic asked. “Doesn’t that mean your stomach might be as weak as ours?”

Roppi looked over at Delic. He was silent for a moment. “So far, I’m not any different than any Coravak in the baztanéc. Honestly, the only reason I know I’m half-human is because of what my ninemil told me as a rookery-kin.”

“…Is it possible your mother lied to you?” Tsugaru voiced.

“Why would they do that?” Roppi continued eating but he had a knit in his brow.

“I wouldn’t know. Perhaps favoritism. Or your mother thought she was impregnated by a human when she was impregnated by a Coravak.”

He shook his head. “My ninemil didn’t sleep with anyone until they met my aikérablav’s ninepow. They were traumatized.”

Roppi took a bite before continuing.

“It wasn’t so bad back then. They were very loving and kind. When I came into year five of a rookery-kin, I asked a stupid question that broke everything. I wanted to know why I didn’t have a ninepow.” Roppi shrugged. “After that, the illusion was destroyed, and everything came out.”

The room became quiet after that.

“Brrow.” Roppi meowed like a cat before taking another bite of food.

Delic cocked a brow before he held back a laugh. “So, you know the expression ‘cat got your tongue’.”

Roppi smiled knowingly. That caused Tsuki to laugh softly.

“So,” Tsugaru started. “There’s no discernable difference between a half-breed and a full-bred?”

“Right.” Roppi said.

“That’ll make it very hard to prove the baby is Tsuki’s.”

“Well, Tsuki has my Minlir. Meaning, he took my virginity. If I do become pregnant in the next couple weeks and I never left this town then it’s proof Tsuki’s the father. Or at least someone within this house is the father.”

Delic nodded. “For that reason, I’d suggest you don’t even leave the house until a pregnancy test comes back positive.”

“What’s a pregnancy test?”

“You pee on a stick and it’ll tell you if you’re pregnant.”

Roppi looked at him in surprise. “Is it a special stick?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s cool.”

“Toudai-san was talking about a new medical achievement.” Tsugaru added. “Toudai-san is our gynecologist. That mean he’s a doctor for females only.”

“Doctors are your ‘ilmi’ right? Your ‘healers’?”

“Yup.”

“And this gynecologist is a doctor for your ninemils?”

“Yes, and for women in general.”

Roppi cocked a brow. “Okay, help me understand this. Any Coravak can become a ninemil. Tsuki said your ‘women’ are the only ones who can become ninemils. When does your people become ‘women’?”

“As soon as they’re born.” Delic stated.

“Eh, so right out of the egg, they’ll be ninemils? That’s revolting!”

“No, no, no. They don’t become ‘mothers’ right out of the womb.” Tsugaru stated. “Only women can become mothers. And a mother will know from birth if their baby will be a woman or a man.”

“Because they have the sacks on their chest?”

“No, babies don’t have the ‘sacks’ until they hit puberty.”

Roppi glared. It was obvious he was getting upset with the language barrier and the concept of gender.

“Here, wait here!” Delic stood.

The pink blond left the dinner table. He went down a hall towards his bedroom. Once in said bedroom, he reached into his closet and pulled out a magazine. A racy magazine with scantly dressed women on the cover. He returned to the table and put it in front of Roppi.

“Delic!” Tsugaru yelled, “Not at the dinner table!”

“It’s easier to show him than tell him what a woman is.”

“That is—”

Roppi grabbed the magazine and flipped it open.

“Why are the spots between the legs blacked out?” Roppi asked.

“Censorship.”

Roppi didn’t know that word and it showed as he glared at Delic.

“I’ll explain that later. Point is, they look different than us.”

“…They look soft.”

“They are soft. Very soft.” Delic grinned.

“Delic.” Tsugaru glowered with disappointment.

The pink blond could only chuckle.

“U-Um…” Tsuki started, blushing profusely as he looked everywhere but at the magazine. “M-maybe we should call Toudai-san and have him come wi-with an anatomy book.”

“He’d probably be able to explain women better than we can.” Delic held his hand out for the magazine. “But you understand the physical difference between a man and a woman, right?”

“…Yeah. It seems like they lost their dick and balls in exchange for a hole.”

“Basically, yeah.”

“But they still have a hanablav.”

“Hanablav?”

“An ‘entrance to the womb’.” Roppi turned the magazine towards Delic and pointed to the pink punker that wasn’t censored.

“That’s an anus. See, this,” Delic pointed to the censored vagina, “is the ‘entrance to the womb’. You remember how you said you throw up pellets?”

“Yeah.”

“For humans, our pellets come from the anus.” He pointed to the pucker. “That’s why we were so confused by everything you said. Cuz, guys have anus’s too. All humans have them, but only women have ‘an entrance to the womb’. Us men have penis’s instead, meant to impregnate.”

“I know what a penis is, and I know what it’s used for.” Roppi stared at the book. “Women look weird. Why are they so lumpy?”

“They’re not lumpy. They’re curvy.”

“Hm.” Roppi stared at the magazine intently. His brow was furrowed, obviously trying to comprehend what he was seeing.

“Roppi-kun.” Tsugaru started.

“Hm?”

“I wouldn’t doubt that you’re not aware what pornography is.”

Roppi looked up at. “Yeah, I have no clue what that is.”

Tsugaru nodded. “What you hold in your hand is pornography. And pornography is something to be gazed at in private, and especially not at the dinner table. So, if you could, please look at that after you’ve finished eating.”

Roppi looked up. “Is it…um…what’s the word in your language? Appreciate?’

“Appropriate. Something that is suitable and proper for the circumstances.”

“Yeah, that.”

“However, the word you are thinking of is ‘inappropriate’. When something is unsuitable or improper for the circumstances.”

Roppi nodded. “Is this,” he waved the magazine. “inappropriate?”

“At the dinner table, yes.”

“Got it.” Roppi handed it back to Delic.

The blond took it and sat on the magazine. He didn’t want to go all the way back to his room, so that was the best alternative. His egg whites had cooked and become a delicious white, so the pink blond started eating.

* * *

Delic pushed past a bush. The branches snagged against his leather chaps, but nothing tore so he paid it little mind. He entered a clearing. Said clearing was not the easiest to get to on foot. It was surrounded by a layer of blackberry thicket, thus why he had leather chaps on, so his clothes didn’t tear. Once inside the clearing, where there were no thorns to be had, he pulled his backpack off his back. He pulled out a blanket and lied it down on the ground. He then sat down and went about taking off his chaps and putting them in his bag.

He then pulled out a paper sack. It was very warm to the touch. He put it down on the blanket and waited.

Within twenty minutes, Delic’s was buffeted by a gust of wind. He put his hand up to protect his face from dirt. The wind died and Delic removed his arm.

Standing before him was a Heartstone. The downy feathers were a mixture of black, white, and gold. On the flight feathers and tail feathers, the hollow shafts and afterfeather were black; the vanes were gold, and the tips were white. The semi-plumes and contour feathers were gold with white tips. Delic knew that the hollow shafts were black, but no one else would know unless they examined the feathers closer—or had some of those feathers like Delic did. After all, when one gains a Heartstone Brand, they had to take some feathers of that Heartstone for their hair cinch. Those same feathers of this Heartstone were on the pink cord in Delic’s sideburn locks.

This Heartstone’s podotheca were white with gold undersides of his four-toed feet and black claws. The beautiful harpy was male, wearing a sand-covered tunic that lacked sides and a back. There were a pair of huge buttons on either side of his chest so, the tunic could wrap underneath his armpits and hug him like a dress, so as not to damage any of his feathers.

He had golden eyes that bore down one Delic with composed adoration.

“Salutations, Delic.” The Heartstone said.

“Hello, Hibiya.”

The Heartstone smiled. He walked over on his huge clawed feet. Hibiya sat down on the blanket in front of him. He put his clawed hands on Delic’s shoulder and leaned forward. Their lips met. The harpy’s lips were so soft.

Delic met this Heartstone when he was seventeen-years-old, nearly four years ago. Hibiya was the one who gave him his Heartstone Brand.

Hibiya separated with a gentle ‘chu’.

“You are a little late today.” Hibiya stated.

“Says the one who made me wait twenty minutes.” Delic kissed Hibiya’s shoulder.

“I was here at the appropriate time; however, you were not here. So, I flew about to see if I could find you.”

Delic smiled. “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t do that, though. If someone besides me saw you…”

“I did not fly close to the town. I remained within the tree line, I promise.”

“Okay, good.”

“Why were you late?”

“I stopped to buy you something.”

“Oh?” Hibiya tilted his head. “Buy, as in obtain in exchange for payment.”

Delic smiled. “You’ve been studying your Japanese.”

“Well, of course. After you gave me that book, things became much easier to understand.”

Delic ruffled Hibiya’s ‘hair’. The feathers were soft to the touch. He had given Hibiya a Japanese dictionary nearly a year ago. The Heartstone stated he knew how to read Japanese but speaking it was hard. When they met so many years ago, there had been a deep language barrier between them. Delic thought it would be in both their best interest for Hibiya to read a dictionary.

“Here,” Delic held up the paper bag. “It occurred to me that you guys probably never cook your food.”

“Cook?”

“To use fire to warm your food.”

“Oh, no, we don’t use fire. With arms of feathers, that would be a bit ridiculous of us.”

“Yeah, I figured.”

Hibiya took the bag and opened it, ripping it with his claws. Neither mentioned it. Instead, Hibiya reached inside and grabbed a smaller white bag. Inside was a golden, deep fried bun.

“Ooh, it’s warm.” Hibiya said.

“Yup. I brought you a bunch of cooked food, since I doubt you’ve ever eaten anything cooked before.”

“What is all this called?”

“Well, what you’re holding is kare pan**. There’s also a box of gyoza and some korokke***.”

Hibiya smiled, but it was obvious he didn’t know what any of that really meant other than it was a name. Delic just smiled in return. Hibiya then rolled the paper down and put his mouth over the bun.

“MM!” His eyes stretched wide as he pulled his mouth off, a bite missing. “It’s got wet stuff in it!”

Delic chuckled. “Yeah, it’s curry.”

“That surprised me.”

Delic smiled cheekily as he snickered.

“It’s really good though.”

Delic’s smile turned sweet. “I’m glad.”

Hibiya turned his attention to the food in his hand as he ate. All the while, Delic stared at him.

 ** _‘It’s so weird to think that he and I became this close over a gangrape.’_** Delic thought.

Delic couldn’t help but think about that fateful day.

* * *

Seventeen-year-old Delic was panting heavily as he trudged up a hill. His feet hurt and his knees were bruises from falling more than once. The blond was second in a line of ten boys. The group of boys were on a mission. They were on their way to Heartstone Peak to start their Masculine-Cue.

Kuronuma Aoba came up with the idea.

_“We’ll have way better luck catching multiple Heartstones as a group than separate. So long as Shiki doesn’t find out, we’re not breaking the Masculine-Cue rules.”_

Delic knew that if they got caught, they might not graduate as ‘men’. After all, the point was to show their individual skill of hunting and tracking. If they worked in a group, that wasn’t showing individual skill, but the skills of the masses and that defeated the purpose of a Masculine-Cue.

However, the blond went with it. He had no reason not to go with it. He didn’t really care to become a man, but he had to. He was already a disappointment to his parents, he didn’t need to be a disappointment to his older brother either. Tsugaru fought tooth and nail to gain custody of him and Tsuki from his worthless parents. Such stress killed Delic’s motivation, but he truly feared being a disappointment to Tsugaru.

So, Delic _had_ to become a man. The moment he became a man, he would be able to help Tsugaru better. But he just didn’t care to do it. So, the easiest thing would be for Delic to graduate his Masculine-Cue with the least amount of effort. Aoba’s idea was the best for Delic.

So, Aoba led the way up the mountain, with Delic, Neko, Yasushi, Gin, Houjou, Neishin, Mistukuri, and the Nitari brothers taking up the rear.

After twenty minutes of trudging, they finally made it to the pond. Said pond had a creek leading up the mountain. They would reach Heartstone Peak if they followed that stream.

However, they didn’t need to. They could hear it before they saw it. Someone, or a group of someone’s, were laughing and splashing in water. The group went low, with Aoba’s flailing arm gesturing to do so, and slunk through the undergrowth. The ten boys made it to the edge of the clearing.

 ** _‘Well, isn’t this lucky.’_** Delic thought.

In the pond was a group of three Heartstones. They were all naked and obviously enjoying themselves. On the grass was two Heartstones, bathing in the sun.

**_‘Five of them, huh?’_ **

The first thing Delic noticed was none of them had plume feathers on their foreheads. That meant none of them had the banshee-like screech defense mechanism. Delic glanced at Aoba. The blue-haired teen put a finger up in hold. Slowly, he pulled the net cannon off his back. Delic did the same.

One of the Heartstones, a black, gold, and white feathered boy that looked no older than fifteen, stood up. He ruffled out his feathers, exposing a Heartstone Brand on his left ass cheek, then went over to a rock close to the pond. He pulled a sand-colored tunic off the rock and stepped into it. He pulled it up and buttoned the tunic over his shoulder. His feather-covered back was still exposed thanks to a slit up the back, with plenty of room for his tail feathers. There was also slits up the sides for his wings to poke through.

The other Heartstone on the grass stood. He looked older—as old as Delic, at least—with feathers of indigo blue and red. He also walked over to the rock. He grabbed a green tunic that looked no different than the other Heartstone’s.

He called out to the three in the water. Immediately, they stopped splashing and let out ‘aw’s’ in disappointment. The oldest Heartstone repeated whatever he said in his strange language. The three pouted but got out.

The three Heartstones—all boys looking as old as the white-and-gold Heartstone—ruffled their feathers out. They all did so three times, trying to dry out their feathers to the very best of their abilities.

A twig snapped behind Delic. The blonde’s eyes widened, and he quickly looked over his shoulder. Neko had been trying to get a better look, in which the branch he was holding onto snapped. It was a small noise. However, it gained the attention of the oldest Heartstone. He looked in their direction with wide, analyzing eyes.

The oldest Heartstone said something. All four younger Heartstones looked at him with confusion. He said something else, in which the three naked Heartstones rushed to the rock to grab their clothes.

“NOW!” Aoba yelled.

Delic jolted to the call. He wasn’t expecting it. Everyone else seemed to, however, as everyone but Delic ran out of the bushes with net guns at the ready.

Five of the guns went off, five nets flying towards the Heartstones. The oldest rushed forward and attempted to take the brunt of the nets by spreading his wings wide. It worked with three of them. Three wrapped around him and pulled him to the ground. His hand grabbed the fourth but the PSI and the weights on the end of the net pulled it from his hands.

That net flew past and wrapped around the white-and-gold Heartstone, who’s wings were spread wide and had a foot off the ground. The net wrapped around his body and left wing, but he didn’t let that stop him as he flapped his wings rigorously. He was airborne and took off into the trees going up the mountain.

The fifth net wrapped around two of the boys by the water. The two boys collided into each other, forced to hug each other. They remained on their feet for a moment longer before another net went off to wrap around their feet. They let out a call of surprise and fell to the ground.

The last Heartstone turned to run. He attempted to fly, but the water on his wings didn’t let him get very high, so he merely tried to run. Two nets put a stop to that quick enough. The boy fell, his head smacking against the rock hard. He let out a grunt before falling quiet.

“Oh, shit, did we kill one?” Neko said.

Aoba rushed over to that particular Heartstone. Delic stood from the bushes and took a step into the clearing. No one paid him any mind while Aoba checked the quiet harpy.

“He seems fine.” Aoba called. “Looks like he just got his bells rung.”

“Phew!”

“Who shot these nets?”

“I did!” Yasushi stated.

“Alright, then this one’s yours.” Aoba stood.

“We shot those two.” The Nitari brothers walked over to the bound pair.

Delic heard branches snapping in the woods. It was a faint noise that definitely wasn’t heard by the rest of the group. But Delic knew it came from the direction the golden Heartstone had flown off too. Delic decided he had no interest in what the group was doing. If they were going off of who shot the nets, Delic wouldn’t be earning his Heartstone Brand anyway.

The blond left the clearing to go into the woods after the noise. He didn’t have to travel very far, about five minutes, before he came across what he expected. The white-and-gold Heartstone. The poor teen harpy was entangled in tree branches, the net around his arm holding him suspended in the air. He was trying to pull himself up with his other hand, but he didn’t have the upper body strength with four twenty pounds weight pulling him down. Delic could see blood on the white feathers.

The blond stepped up to the tree.

**_‘I can see up his tunic.’_ **

The Heartstone jolted and looked down. An expression of pure terror crossed his expression. He started struggling harder, calling out in pain as feathers started to flutter down.

“Stop struggling!” Delic called up. “You’re just going to hurt yourself!”

The Heartstone looked back down. He had tears in his eyes.

“Do you want help?”

“Hay—heyuh.”

“Help.”

The Heartstone’s brows furrowed. Delic let out a soft sigh as he rubbed his hand through his hair. He then walked over to the tree. He grabbed some branches and started to climb.

“Hey-heyl-heylp.” The Heartstone said.

“That’s right, I’m going to help you.”

“W-w-why?”

Delic’s eyes widened. “Can you actually speak Japanese?”

“S-some…No-no too good…”

“Huh.”

Delic reached the closest branch, which was just out of reach of the Heartstone’s feet. He stood on the branch close to the trunk. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a multipurpose knife. He popped the knife out with a **click**. The Heartstone flinched.

Delic put the handle of the knife in his mouth, holding it hard with his teeth. He then squatted down, swinging his hands up and down at his side to gain momentum. He pushed off in a jump. He grabbed the branch the Heartstone was tied to. The branch dipped under his 162lbs but held. Either it was a strong branch or the Heartstone wasn’t all that heavy.

Delic held onto the branch with one hand and grabbed the knife out of his mouth. He reached over and reached up to the cord entangled in the branch. He wasn’t able to saw at it like he would like with only one hand. So, he had to come at the rope with slices, relying on the Heartstone’s weight to apply tension and make the rope weak.

One cord snapped. The Heartstone cringed and called out in pain—no doubt, the rope on his wing tearing into him more.

“Don’t be too loud.” Delic said. “The others may hear you.”

“Hu-hu-hurts. Cut-cutted I.”

“I know. Try and grab the branch with your other hand.”

The Heartstone clenched his teeth. He reached up but couldn’t reach.

Delic let out a soft sigh. “Okay.”

The blond put the knife back into his mouth and grabbed the branch with both hands. He waited until his original hand stopped aching before letting go again. He then grabbed the Heartstone’s free wrist. The boy flinched but didn’t have the option to tug away. Delic tugged the raven’s wrist up. He cringed in obvious pain but Delic forced his hand up. The raven managed to grab the branch above his head. Delic let him go and the Heartstone started huffing hard.

Delic took the blade out of his mouth and continued to slice at the cord. There were five cords, now four after Delic cut one, and to cut all of them was slow and arduous. The Heartstone’s breathing was getting harder and harder. Tears were started to stream his cheeks. He was obvious on the verge of panicking.

Because of that, Delic decided to make small talk to try and calm him.

“What’s your name?” Delic asked.

The golden harpy looked at him. “N-name?”

“Yes. What are you called?”

Another cord was cut. The golden raven cringed. He then looked up at Delic.

“…Hi-Hibiya.”

“Hibiya? That’s a beautiful name, Hibiya. I’m Delic.”

“D-De-lick.”

“That’s right.”

Another cord snapped. “Nngh!”

“Just two more. Keep your eyes on me, Hibiya.”

Hibiya clenched his teeth. “You-you ale…been ni-nice.”

“Well, yeah. You’re in a lot of pain.”

“Wh-why heylp when you at-attic us?”

“It’s nothing personal. We’re just doing our Masculine-Cue.”

“Mas-mascrin cue?”

The second cord snapped. With all the weight put on one cord, the last one broke on its own. The raven immediately tucked his injured wing to his chest. Delic closed the knife with one hand and put it in his pocket. He then grabbed the branch with both hands and turned to the branch he had jumped from. He swung his legs out to gain momentum then flung himself back to that branch.

He landed, leaning on a branch at waist level. He then turned around.

“Come here.” Delic gestured for the Heartstone, holding his hands out. “I’ll catch you.”

The Heartstone tried to glare, but it wasn’t very convincing when he looked so terrified. “Wh-why should I…trust you?”

Delic stared at him for a moment. “Simple. What other choice do you have?”

The Heartstone clenched his teeth.

“I mean, if you want to try flying on a damaged wing, then I won’t stop you.” Delic leaned back on the branch nonchalantly.

The Heartstone took on an expression of confliction. He groaned. Then he began swinging on one hand. He didn’t get nearly enough momentum, but he pushed off nonetheless. He used his wings to make up the distance and landed in Delic’s arms quite harshly. The blond cringed to the hearty thump against his chest.

The blond adjusted the Heartstone’s in his arms.

“Wrap around my waist and neck.” Delic ordered.

The Heartstone did so. Delic could feel him grabbing his only leg with his meaty claws to squeeze Delic’s waist. He wrapped one of his wings around Delic’s neck, those feathers cascading over his back, and hooked his fingers under Delic’s arm. He decided to favor his injured arm to his chest.

“Don’t dig your claws into me or I’ll drop you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Hibiya growled. “Juice get I done.”

Delic glowered at the Heartstone. He then rolled his eyes and made his way down the tree.

Delic had difficulty making it through the branches. But make it he did. Now on the ground, Delic put his hands under Hibiya’s rump to lift the Heartstone up properly. That induced a growl from the bird man.

“We on ground now! Put I done!”

Hibiya started to kick.

“Oi, knock it off.” Delic growled. “I’ll drop you. Do you want to break your tail feathers?”

An inhuman growl—a noise that sounded similar to some demonic hag’s gurgle—echoed in his throat. Delic glared at him. But he went down on his knees, the weights touching the ground first, and put Hibiya down. The golden raven glared up at him.

Delic pulled his knife out again. The Heartstone jolted and immediately backpedaled.

“Stop.” Delic growled. He grabbed the weights between Hibiya’s legs to keep him from pulling back too far. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”

“Are you…are you go to hurt I?”

“…Well, yeah.” Delic rubbed the back of his head. “I kind of have to. If you could fly then I’d just let you go, honestly. I’m not a fan of doing someone who’s obviously scared. But since you can’t fly, I’m the less of two evils, so…”

“Doing someone.” Hibiya’s eyes stretched wide. “You-you wan sex?”

“Well, yeah. We need that.” Delic tapped Hibiya’s rump.

The raven looked down and rolled his hip to expose his birthmark on his rump. “I Minlir?”

“Yeah. That’s what we came up here for. Once we have them, we’ll leave you alone.”

“…If-If give Minlir, you no hurt I?”

“ _I_ won’t hurt you. I don’t know what the others plan to do to get there’s but at least I won’t hurt you.”

“…How-how I know—”

“Hey, Delic!” Aoba’s voice resounded. “Where are you?”

The two of them jolted.

**_‘I didn’t net this Heartstone, so if Aoba sees he’s here…’_ **

Delic shoved Hibiya hard. The Heartstone gasped as he fell on his back. Delic grabbed the raven’s thighs and lifted his hips up. Hibiya’s eyes stretched wide with fear.

“N-n-n-no!”

Delic quickly undid his belt and pushed his pants down to expose a flaccid cock. Hibiya jolted at the sight as his complexion paled. The blond then tugged the Heartstone close, until the seam of his rump touched the flaccid member.

“N-no! No!” Hibiya reached out to push Delic away.

Delic grabbed the end of the snapped net and wrapped it around Hibiya’s freed wrist. He essentially bound the two together and held the end of the rope to keep the Heartstone from slipping out of it. He then hugged one of Hibiya’s legs to his body.

“Play along.” Delic growled.

“Eh?!”

Delic began thrusting his hips, rubbing his limp member against the underside of Hibiya’s rump.

“Delic!” Aoba called, his voice closer.

Hibiya called out in sheer terror as he stared up at Delic with a matching gaze. Tears flooded his golden eyes to streak his cheeks. He started shaking his head.

“Ina! Ina!” Hibiya called. “Qavo! Qavo, Ibai! Ib—pl-please!”

**_‘He’s laying it on thick. I doubt he’s acting with responses like this.’_ **

“Delic!” Aoba pushed through the bushes behind them. “Oh, well, I see your busy.”

“Yeah, so go away.” Delic growled. “You’re ruining it.”

“You didn’t catch that one though.”

“Neither did anyone else. Last I checked, he got away, so whoever caught him after had claim.”

Aoba was quiet. Then he chuckled. “If it wasn’t for the net, you wouldn’t have found him again.”

“I mean, if you want to stop me you can.” Delic looked over his shoulder with a grin, placing his hand over the brand on the Heartstone’s rump. “I already got the Brand, so I was going to let him go anyway.”

Aoba scoffed. “Without the Brand, it’s not worth it to do it with a guy.”

“Then go away so I can enjoy this.”

“You cheated, you know.”

“Isn’t that the whole point of doing this as a group instead of solo?” Delic chuckled. “Go ahead and tell Shiki I cheated. Then he can ask why we went up without notifying him and five of us happened to get the brand at the same time.”

Aoba looked at him with a hateful smirk. “It’s whatever.”

**_‘Thought so.’_ **

“We’re going to move on. The rest of us still need brands. Yasushi, the brothers, and Houjou are still earning theirs, but they said they’re going back down the mountain once they’re done.”

“Alright, happy hunting.”

Aoba gave a half-hearted wave good-bye and went back into the thicket. Delic watched him go until he was out of the sight. He breathed a breath of release and let Hibiya go. He backed away and began fixing his pants. Hibiya was still sobbing but his cries had died down to gentle hiccups as he looked up at Delic in confusion.

“Was-was just…act?” Hibiya voiced.

“Yeah.” Delic said. He made eye contact with Hibiya. “However, I _am_ going to have to take your brand.”

Hibiya jolted. “Bu-but—”

“You’re not going to be able to fly back to your home.” Delic popped his knife open and lifted Hibiya’s injured arm. “You’ll have to walk, in which Aoba and his group might come across you again. Honestly, it’s not a ‘might’. There’s no doubt they’ll come across you again and if they see you have your brand, one of them will take it. And I can guarantee they won’t be as kind as me.”

Delic lifted the cord, which had buried deep into the skin, and snipped away at it. Little by little, it was cut away.

“I know this situation sucks, but I won’t hurt you if I can help it. I can’t promise the same thing if Aoba finds you again.”

Hibiya didn’t look so certain. The last of the cord was finally cut. Delic threw it all to the side. He then shrugged his backpack off. He opened it and pulled out a first aid kit. He opened it and pulled out some gauze and rubbing alcohol.

“Do you know what disinfectant is?” Delic asked.

Hibiya didn’t respond, brows furrowed.

“Hibiya, do you know what disinfectant is?”

The raven hesitated, then shook his head.

“Okay, so this is going to sting.”

Delic grabbed Hibiya’s injured arm as daintily as he could. He then reached down and kissed the knuckles of the hand. The podotheca was rough against his lips but he didn’t let that bother him.

“Please, bear with me, okay?”

Hibiya looked conflicted. He then nodded.

Delic opened the rubbing alcohol and gingerly poured it onto the wound. Hibiya called out in pain then clenched his teeth hard. There were three worthwhile gashes in his wing. One in the primary arch close to where the wing attached to the side of his hand, and two in the secondary arch along the ‘wrist’. All three had all their feathers torn off or broken around the wounds, especially the ones meant for flying. There was no way Hibiya would be able to fly for quite some time.

Delic spent the time to pull out the broken feathers. He heard that broken feathers don’t grow back until they molted, so it was best to pull them out. Hibiya cringed with each extraction.

“Shoosh. It’s okay.” Delic said as soothingly as he could. “It’ll be okay.”

There was a marginal gap in his wings around the injuries. It looked borderline grotesque, making Hibiya look sickly. But that gap would allow Delic to wrap the wound without damaging more feathers.

“How old are you, Hibiya?” Delic asked, deciding to make small talk to calm the Heartstone once again.

“Um…I is 31 seasons.”

“Seasons?”

Hibiya nodded.

“What does that mean?”

After properly disinfecting the cuts, the blond took the gauze and started to wrap them tight enough to keep them from falling off but loose enough that it wouldn’t cut off blood flow.

“Um, um,” Hibiya started. “There cold season and hot season. I live through 31 of both seasons.”

Delic nodded. **_‘Cold and hot. So, fall and winter then spring and summer. Seems like they count both sets as one depending on hot and cold. By that logic, there’s only two ‘seasons’ a year for them. So, 31 is…15 ½ years.’_**

Delic smiled. “You’re only three seasons younger than me.”

Hibiya’s eyes widened. “R-really?”

“Yeah.”

Eventually it was done. His lovely wing arches were thoroughly wrapped.

“When you get home, have your healer look at these. Do you guys have a healer?”

“…Ba-bata.” Hibiya nodded.

Delic assumed that meant ‘yes’. He nodded in return.

He then leaned forward. He hovered over Hibiya, his face centimeters from the raven’s. Hibiya jolted, his eyes stretching wide. The Heartstone lied back which allowed Delic to thoroughly trap him against the ground. Hibiya’s hands came up to touch the raven’s chest.

“Do-do have to real do sex?” Hibiya asked. He was obviously nervous.

“I won’t hurt you.” Delic kissed Hibiya’s forehead. “I won’t hurt you.”

“But what if make I pregnant?”

Delic tried not to laugh. Swallowing down the giggles nearly made him choke. This poor boy was so innocent he thought sex entailed to a baby regardless of gender. Delic started to feel bad that he would be deflowering someone so pure.

“I’ll pull out, alright?” Delic smiled reassuringly.

His hands found purchase along Hibiya’s side. The harpy jolted to the sensation. His breathe hitched with obvious nervousness.

“Don’t be scared.” Delic voiced against Hibiya’s neck. He kissed the pale flesh. “Don’t be scared, Hibiya.”

“You-you no hurt I, right?”

“That’s right, I won’t.”

“You no make baby?”

“I won’t make a baby.”

“You…you know do bad thing to I? No keep I as pet?”

“Of course, I won’t.”

“I g-get go home after?”

“Yes.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

Hibiya still looked conflicted. But in the end, he nodded. What other choice did he have?

With the closest thing to proper consent Delic was going to get, the blond wasted no time taking Hibiya’s tunic off. He grabbed the buttons over the shoulder and undid them. Hibiya gasped at how quickly he was disrobed. He pushed against Delic’s chest, but it was a lackluster push.

Delic’s hands found purchase on Hibiya’s nipple. His dainty fingers encircled the pink flesh before rubbing the nubs. They perked almost instantly, becoming hard under his touch. All the while, Delic peppered Hibiya’s cheek and neck with kisses. The blonde’s mouth trailed down to kiss the collar bone. He then found his tongue against the right nipple.

“Hm!” Hibiya arched.

He grabbed Delic’s shoulders to push him away. Yet another lackluster attempt.

Delic sucked and licked and nibbled the perky nub. The other he stimulated with his hand. He pushed it with his thumb, twisted it with his index and thumb, and scraped his nail over it.

“Uh…ah…!” Hibiya tilted his head down. His clawed hand found purchase in Delic’s hair. “Nn! Hn!”

Delic took his mouth off. He didn’t want to make his nipples raw, after all. He trailed his kisses down Hibiya’s body. He kissed his dainty abdomen then his soft stomach. The tunic was tented around Hibiya’s erection. Such a sight made Delic smile. At least Hibiya was enjoying it physically. Mentally could always come later.

He pushed the tunic up to expose the lovely erogenous zone. He had no pubic hair, being completely bare down there. Delic wondered if he was too young—within his species—to grow pubic hair or if Heartstones don’t have pubic hair. All their ‘hair’ were feathers, so it would be strange that their pubic hair was the only exception. Delic decided not to question it, however.

“You’re very beautiful.” Delic said, rubbing his hands against the side of his hips. “So appealing and sweet.”

Hibiya looked down at him with a fiery blush. He opened his mouth and started yelling at him in that language Delic didn’t understand. The raven closed his eyes tight shut as words just started pouring out of his mouth. He was embarrassed so he was yelling at the blond. Delic found it profoundly cute.

The blond leaned up and put his lips over Hibiya’s. The raven’s eyes stretched wide. Those golden orbs glistened from the kiss. Such a look lit a fire under Delic’s stomach. His cock began to grow in his open pants. The tip poked out of the waistband of his underwear.

Delic broke the kiss. Hibiya was panting hard.

The blond dipped his head down. He hands caressed those lovely hip bones. He reached under with ease and grabbed each ass cheek. He squeezed the flesh, rolled it and spread them apart. At the same time, Delic rubbed his face against the junction of his hip. The left half of his face was pressed against a meaty thigh while the right was touching that throbbing erection.

“Uh, ah, ah!” Hibiya arched, grabbing a handful of Delic’s hair. He curled the tips of his fingers up so as not to claw the blonde’s scalp. “Sc-scared! I scared!”

“It’s okay, don’t scream too loud.” Delic looked up at him. “The others might hear you and want to take a peak.”

Hibiya jolted. He looked down at Delic with eyes of fear.

“It’s okay.” Delic rubbed Hibiya’s hips. “I won’t hurt you. You don’t need to be scared.”

Hibiya nodded before Delic even finished his sentence. The fear didn’t change though.

“I’ll make you feel good.” Delic smiled, his breath touching Hibiya’s cock. “You’ll see.”

With that being said, Delic drew his tongue up the underside of the small cock.

“Hee!” Hibiya arched, his claws digging into the dirt at Delic’s side.

The blond didn’t hesitate. Once the member was wet, he put his mouth over the tip and began sucking. He was experienced in all manners of sex so pleasuring another man had never been a problem for him. He brought his mouth down, able to deepthroat it without much pain.

Hibiya’s voice became high pitched as his eyes stared at the sky wide-eyed. Small noises came from his throat as he started to tremble. Delic couldn’t help but smile.

**_‘This must be his first time getting treatment like this.’_ **

Guilt did hurt his chest at the thought of taking a fifteen-year-old’s virginity. However, he told himself it was fine. It’s not like he was human, so age obviously meant something different.

Delic bobbed his head, over and over and over again. The member pulsed and added salty pre-cum to his tongue.

“I-I-I!” Hibiya started. “I…gon pee!”

Delic took his mouth off. “It’s not pee. It’s cum.”

Hibiya shook his head.

**_‘Well, I guess that’s fine.’_ **

Delic lifted himself up. He put two fingers into his mouth and lathered them up. He then reached down and touched Hibiya’s entrance. He encircled the pink anus, wetting it up properly. He then pushed his finger in.

“Ah!” Hibiya jolted once again. He gasped and began to shake. He looked down at Delic wide-eyed. “Do-do—what do?”

“It won’t hurt if I do this.”

“Nngh! Nn!” Hibiya put a hand over his mouth, staring down at him with those huge eyes.

 ** _‘He’s already wet.’_** Delic noted. **_‘That’s really weird.’_**

Surprisingly, it didn’t take very long for Delic to get a second finger in. The blond didn’t understand how his body was so loose already, nor how it was so wet. Maybe Delic was just getting hasty? A part of him didn’t care. His cock was throbbing for attention, so Delic decided it was good enough and sat up.

Hibiya looked up at him. The blond pushed his pants and underwear down to expose his prominent erection. Finally, the fear disappeared. He looked down at Delic’s member wide-eyed with genuine surprise and blushed crimson.

“B-big…”

Delic held back a laugh. “Thank you.”

The blond scooted closer until his pulsing member rubbed against Hibiya’s. The Heartstone’s eyes were trained on Delic’s cock. Without much warning, Hibiya reached out and touched the tip with a soft index finger. The erection twitched to the touch. He pulled his hand away as if the cock was a snake ready to bite.

“It’s alright.” Delic smiled. He grabbed the Heartstone’s ‘wrist’ and gently pulled it back towards the member. “You can touch it.”

Hibiya looked up at him. Then back down. He reached back out and touched it. Delic closed one eye.

**_‘The palms of his hands are surprising soft.’_ **

“No claws, okay?” Delic chuckled.

The raven nodded. He wrapped his fingers around the member, bending the tips of his digits up so the claws curled away. He gave it a few generous strokes. Delic bit his bottom lip before starting to pant.

The blond reached down with his two wettened fingers and pushed them back inside Hibiya’s entrance.

“HM~!” Hibiya twitched, the huge claws of his feet curling.

“You’re really cute.” Delic smiled.

Hibiya looked up at him. “C-cute?”

“Yes, very cute.” Delic leaned forward and nuzzled his face against Hibiya’s cheek before kissing it. “So damn cute.”

Delic scissored his fingers without pause. Hibiya’s mouth gaped but he didn’t make any audible noise. His panting breath berated Delic’s cock.

“Hey, I’m going to put it in now.” The blond stated.

“Eh?”

Delic grabbed Hibiya’s hips and lifted the raven up. He then paused when he felt the tail feathers against the crotch of his pants. Delic feared he would break those feathers and he didn’t want to hurt him anymore than he already was. The blond grabbed Hibiya’s left leg and twisted it over his body. The Heartstone was forced to roll on his right hip with his left leg pinned to the ground.

“E-eh? Eh?” Hibiya looked over his shoulder. “Bre-Bretowai!”

The Heartstone reached back and pushed on Delic’s chest. His claws dug into the pink fabric but didn’t prick his skin.

“It’s okay.” Delic said.

He grabbed Hibiya’s hand and pulled it away from him, all the while keeping his left leg pinned.

“It’s all alright.”

“I-I sc-scare.”

“It’s okay.” Delic kissed his hand. “It’ll be okay.”

Delic rubbed his hand against Hibiya’s ass, pushing the tunic up to expose the brand. Delic took a good look at it. It was quite cute. It was just like any other brand, a dark tinge in the shape of a heart, with an individual unique flare. The raven had the outline of what looked like a unicorn on top of the heart, the legs merged to the mid-upper limbs so only the horned head, torso and flowing main were visible, but with enough room between the underbelly and the curve of the heart to be discernable.

**_‘Cute.’_ **

Delic used his free hand to align his throbbing cock to Hibiya’s entrance.

“De-Delic.” Hibiya looked up at him with that obvious fear. “No hurt, right?”

“That’s right.”

Before Hibiya could respond, Delic pushed his hips forward.

“NNGH!” Hibiya’s eyes stretched wide.

Delic’s cockhead pushed into that warm depth. The blond tilted his head back and exhaled to the sensation.

**_‘Fuck, he’s really tight.’_ **

“De-De-Delic…”

Hibiya started shaking like a leaf under the blond. He was staring up at him with those wide eyes of fear.

**_‘Come on, quit looking at me like that. You’re ruining the mood.’_ **

“Hey, it’s okay.” Delic smiled. He leaned down and kissed Hibiya’s shoulder. “It’s okay. Breathe out and relax.”

Hibiya inhaled deeply and exhaled harshly. He swallowed hard. His claws dug into the dirt, tearing up tuffs of soil.

“There you go. Deep breathes.” Delic kissed Hibiya’s shoulder again. “I won’t hurt you.”

“Ba-bata…”

“I’m going to move more, okay?”

Hibiya nodded. “Bata.”

Delic smiled. He then pushed his hips forward. Slowly, Hibiya’s tight heat began to envelope his cock. He swallowed. He put his hands on either side of Hibiya as he pushed and pushed and pushed.

When his cock was halfway in, Hibiya arched and jolted.

“AH! Hénaik!”

Hibiya reached back and pushed against Delic’s chest. Tears dotted his golden eyes as he looked back at Delic.

“You say no hurt. You say…”

“I said I was going to have to hurt you but do my best not to do more than I had to.”

Hibiya glared at him. “You say no hurt.”

“I said what I said.” Delic licked his lip as he grabbed Hibiya’s leg. “You’re not a virgin anymore so you’ll be fine now. It won’t hurt anymore.”

“L-lie you are! Lie—”

“Shoosh.” Delic put a hand over his mouth. “The other’s—agh!”

Hibiya bit Delic’s hand. Hard. The blond cringed in pain and tried to pull his hand away, but Hibiya’s teeth were bore in. He could feel the tips were pointed and slightly curved. No doubt they were probably similar to a geese’s ‘teeth’. That meant he couldn’t tug his hand away without tearing out hunks of flesh. The only thing Delic could do was hit him, but he didn’t want to do that—although he was _heavily_ debating it.

Delic pushed forward until his hip was pressed against Hibiya’s rump, his cock sheathed completely, and grabbed the raven’s jaw. Hibiya’s eyes stretched wide as he groaned, muffled, into his hand. He released, blood on his teeth. He then turned his head and coughed.

“Are you crazy?” Delic growled. “I’m trying to be nice to you here and you take a chunk out of my hand!”

“We even now.” Hibiya said through panting breath. “You make I hurt, I make you hurt.”

Delic glowered at him. He then let out a heavy sigh before chuckling. “Touché.”

Hibiya glared. Then looked at Delic’s hand. The raven grabbed his wrist and tugged his hand back to his mouth.

“Nuh-uh.” Delic pulled his hand away. “You only get one bite.”

“No bite, dizang!” Hibiya’s lip pulled back in a snarl. “Lick better!”

“Sorry, I don’t fully trust you.” Delic leaned down and kissed Hibiya’s shoulder. “Let me just get your brand and we’ll go our separate ways.”

“I—hm!” Delic pulled his hips back.

The blond thrust with a slow roll of his hips. As he did so, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. He’d properly disinfect his hand later. For now, he obviously had more pressing matters. He wrapped the handkerchief around his hand, tying it off. He then grabbed the raven’s hip with that hand to keep it off the ground. All the while, he still slid in and out of Hibiya.

“Hm! Mm!” Hibiya rested his head against the ground, pressing his index finger against his lip. His eyes were closed and his breathing harsh. “Nn! Hm! Km!”

“Are you okay?” Delic asked, tapping Hibiya’s cheek.

The raven looked up at him.

“Does it still hurt?”

“…I known no. Ó-Óka. Óka-ti.”

“What does that mean?”

“Um…um…”

Hibiya tugged on Delic’s sleeve. Despite his better judgement, the blond obliged him. Hibiya began rubbing Delic’s hand between his own.

“Warm?”

Hibiya looked at him with furrowed brows.

“It’s warm inside?”

“I-I think word…”

“But does it hurt?”

Delic looked down as he pulled his hips back. There was a trail of blood on the side of his member.

“I known no. It…warm. Real warm…”

Delic nodded. He then put his hand under Hibiya’s knee and lifted it. Using his elbow to keep the limb up, he wrapped his finger around Hibiya’s cock. The raven jolted. Delic smiled as he began stroking Hibiya while thrusting his hips.

“Ah! Ah!” Hibiya’s eyes widened. “AH! HAH! AHN!”

Delic couldn’t help but grin. Despite the breaking of his bud, Hibiya was still fully hard and was responding positively.

Thrust, thrust, thrust, thrust.

Stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke.

Delic thrust his hips while stroking Hibiya’s cock. The raven was weeping pre-cum onto Delic’s hand. His own cock was pulsing inside the Heartstone. He wasn’t leaking pre-cum—he never did—but he could feel his orgasm building under his stomach. A tight coil was forming under his stomach and he wanted to release it _badly_. Delic was driving towards his own orgasm.

“Nn ah! Hah-ah! Ah!” Hibiya’s voice only became louder with Delic’s stimulation.

The Heartstone’s toes curled. His legs started twitching. His eyes were half-lidded and leaking tears of pleasure while his mouth was agape to release sweet moans. His face was a fiery red and saliva drizzled down his chin.

“Hahn! Nah, ah, ah ah! I-I pee! It—I—AAHA! AAH! AHN!”

Hibiya’s whole body began to shake as he clamped down on Delic hard. White liquid sprayed out of Hibiya’s cock over Delic’s hand and onto the dirt. The blond hissed to the vice grip on his cock. He was going to cum! But he said he’d pull out!

Delic pulled his hips back far until he popped out of the raven’s ass. He then fisted his member, which was drenched in the Heartstone’s juices, and jacked himself fervently to completion. His vision went white as hot streams of cum shot out of his cock. He exhaled in pure ecstasy.

His orgasm ended soon enough. He let out a small sigh of disappointment. Immediately, he debated going a round two with this cutie. He usually liked more than one round. However, Delic knew that would be pushing his luck. Hibiya barely consented as is. He doubted the raven would be willing to do so a second time.

Delic looked down at the Heartstone. Hibiya was limp against the soil, panting heavily and twitching all over. Delic had thoroughly coated the raven’s ass and even some on his tunic and side with his cum. He held back a laugh.

**_‘I bukkaked him.’_ **

Delic decided not to mention that aloud. He doubted Hibiya would even know what that was. Instead, he decided to reach into his bag and pull out a rag. He began wiping the Heartstone down.

That’s when he noticed the birthmark on Hibiya’s ass cheek was gone. He stared, then stood up on his knees. He pushed his pants down to expose his ass and turned his head as far as he could to look at his left ass cheek. Sure enough, on his own pale rump was the dark patch of skin that looked like a heart with a unicorn standing on top of it.

**_‘Cool, I got it!’_ **

With a thick grin, Delic continued to clean Hibiya off.

“There you go.” Delic looked down at Hibiya. “Now Aoba and the others won’t be tempted to hurt you.”

Hibiya opened his eyes to look at him. He looked down at his rump to see bare flesh. His brows furrowed with obvious confliction. He then looked up at Delic.

“Th-thank you.”

Delic immediately felt a pit of guilt in his stomach. **_‘He really was innocent. Anyone else would have known I was just lying to get sex.’_**

Once again, the blond decided not to mention that aloud. Instead, he cleaned his cock off, cleaned his hand off, fixed his pants, fastening it closed, and patted his clothes down.

“You’re welcome.” Delic stood. “Here, come on. Stand up.”

The blond held his uninjured hand out to Hibiya. The raven looked at him with hesitation. Then took the offer. He grabbed Delic’s hand and was lifted up. Hibiya was so impeccably light, so it was no effort to tug him to his feet. Hibiya’s knees buckled and he leaned against Delic. His hands found purchase in Delic’s shirt and he looked up at him.

“My-my leg weak.” The raven looked up at him so pitifully cute.

Delic’s eyes widened. A feeling came over him. An urge he had never felt before. He didn’t know why, but Hibiya gazing up at him like that lit a fire he didn’t fully understand. He put his hand underneath Hibiya’s jaw, brushing some feathers out of his face, and leaned down. His lips came over Hibiya’s in a passionate kiss.

The raven’s eyes stretched wide as he inhaled deeply. However, he didn’t pull away. Delic’s tongue found need with Hibiya’s mouth. He forced his muscles into the raven’s warm passage, pressing his against Hibiya’s.

**_‘Tastes like licorice.’_ **

Hibiya tapped against Delic’s chest rapidly. Delic separated. The Heartstone gasped, falling away into panting breathes.

“Wh-wh-why? Why wan know where am all time?”

Delic shook his head. “I don’t. I just wanted a kiss.”

“Kiss?”

“Yeah, that’s what that was.”

Hibiya took a step back. He opened his mouth to talk but gasped instead as his tunic fell down around his thighs. He caught it with his hands and quickly tugged it back up. Delic chuckled.

“Here, here.” The blond said.

He grabbed the tunic and tugged it up to around his chest. Hibiya held the clothes in place while Delic buttoned the shoulders.

“There you go.” Delic smiled. He then grabbed Hibiya’s hurt wing and looked it over. “This should heal in a week or so. Make sure to have your healer look it over though.”

Hibiya nodded.

“If you come across Aoba or anyone else of my group, just tell them my name. I’m sure they’ll leave you alone after that.”

“…Okay.”

Delic ruffled the raven’s ‘hair’. He then grabbed Hibiya’s shoulders and turned him around. “Get going! Go on!”

Delic whapped Hibiya on the butt firmly, but gently, and gave a soft push. The Heartstone skipped a step from the slight shove but kept his bearings. He looked back at Delic. He hesitated for a moment longer, then faced front and ran into the trees.

“Aw~~ how cute~!”

Delic jumped to the voice. He looked over his shoulder to see Yasushi, the Nitari brothers, and Houjou staring at him from the tree line.

“How long have you guys been there?” The blond glowered.

“Long enough to see you making out with a monster.” The older brother snickered.

“What kind of bullshit did you tell him to get so cutesy with him?” The younger brother asked. “Ours were screaming bloody murder the whole time.”

“Yeah, we had to gag ours.”

“Houjou’s kept saying he was going to kill us.” Yasushi pointed at the hefty teen. “That didn’t last very long once he got shown the magnum.”

They all snickered. Delic chuckled dryly. He couldn’t share their humor, but at least he could pretend.

“Where are the other Heartstones?” The blond asked, walking over to them.

“We cut them lose and they flew off. We’re heading down the mountain.”

“You coming? Or do you want to go after your little boyfriend?”

The jab was followed by more snickers.

“Yeah. I’m going down.” Delic grabbed his backpack, closing it up and slinging it over his back. “I’m going to have to go first when we tell Shiki about our Masculine-Cue. That Heartstone bit me.”

“We’ll let Aoba know next time we see him.”

“You think you can last until tomorrow?”

“I don’t know.” Delic said as the group of five started going back the way they came. “I’ll disinfect it when I get home. But if it gets infected, I’ll think of something.”

Luckily, that never came to pass. The plan worked just fine. Delic went home, cleaned the wound, and the next day told Shiki he was ready to do his Masculine-Cue—all the while hiding his hand with a pair of gloves. The tightness of the glove helped apply nice pressure to the bite. Delic was given a net gun, provisions, and a hunting knife.

The blond took it, hid in the woods until a little before dark, and went back down the mountain. He produced some of Hibiya’s feathers from yesterday and his Heartstone brand. Delic was given a cord that couldn’t be burnt, cut, or frayed. He was able to choose what to dye it and created a bubblegum pink color. A simple ceremony was held and Delic was officially a man. He then got proper medical attention for his hand and that was the end of it.

* * *

 ** _‘At least, it was supposed to be the end.’_** Delic thought, staring at his Heartstone who just finished his kare pan. **_‘Little did I know, this Heartstone would fall in love with me.’_**

Within the month after Delic became a ‘man’, some kids in the village were saying they saw a golden Heartstone in the trees. Delic thought it was absurd, at first. Heartstone’s had never gotten that close to the town before. But he decided to humor the idea and went looking—in which, he came across Hibiya. The raven had come to see him. There was a very obvious language barrier between the two, but Delic was able to figure out that Hibiya’s little heart was made aflutter by their union and he couldn’t just leave things as a one-night stand to be forgotten.

The blond truly felt bad. He assumed Hibiya had only ‘fallen’ for him because Delic took his virginity. The fifteen-year-old was clinging to him, who as far as he knew saved him from a harsher fate and was even kind to him when he didn’t have to be. Delic should have done the right thing. He should have broken Hibiya’s heart and sent him back home. But a part of Delic didn’t want that. It was a part he didn’t fully understand but one that dominated any selfless righteousness.

So, the two started doing what they were currently doing now. For four years, they met in secret in this clearing that was protected by blackberry bramble. They have never been interrupted or found by either side.

**_‘I thought he would eventually grow out of this. Realize that our star-cross lover relationship wasn’t worth it when he could marry someone in his clan. But it didn’t. And now, it’s different.’_ **

Delic smiled. Hibiya looked at him.

“Do you want some?” The raven asked.

“No, it’s fine.” Delic waved it off. “I got them for you.”

“I won’t be able to eat all this by myself.”

“You can take some home. Say you stole it from a picnic.”

**_‘He loves me, and I love him.’_ **

Hibiya cocked a brow. “What is a ‘picnic’?”

“It’s where you pack a lunch for you and a group and eat it outdoors. Make a day of it and everything.”

“You make an event to eat outdoors?”

“Well, yeah. We have houses, remember? We usually only eat indoors.”

“…Oh.”

Delic smiled. “I brought some juice too.”

“Orange juice?” Hibiya immediately brightened.

“But of course!”

Delic pulled out a canister and held it out to Hibiya. The raven smiled from ear to ear as he grabbed it and opened the cap. He took a generous gulp.

Delic smiled.

 ** _‘Ah, if only I had come out to Shiki about my love affair here. Then Hibiya could be living with me.’_** The smile vanished for a moment. **_‘Now Tsuki’s going to father a child with a Heartstone he just met. It should have been me and Hibiya. It could have been me and Hibiya. If only I had…’_**

Delic glowered.

**_‘If I had acted earlier then everything would be better. For me, Hibiya, and Tsuki. I should have—’_ **

“Is something wrong, Delic?” Hibiya leaned forward, looking up at him. “Have I upset you?”

Delic jolted. He immediately wiped the glower off his face and smiled. “No, no, I was just thinking.”

“Care to share?”

“It’s nothing to worry about.”

Hibiya did not look convinced.

“By the way, Hibiya,” Delic smiled. “I heard that Heartstone’s are a male exclusive race and have male pregnancies. Is that true?”

Hibiya stared for a moment. “Is this that masculine/feminine thing the dictionary was trying to say?”

Delic’s eyes widened. “Ah, yeah. Did you understand any of that?”

“Not really. It kept using words that I couldn’t understand. From what I could figure, a male is a ninepow and a female is a ninemil. Ninepow means ‘the one who gives’ and ninemil is ‘the one who receives’. By receive and give, it means to receive or give the semen.”

“Do ninemil’s have breast and a vagina?”

“I do not know what either of those are.”

“Do you all have the same parts? Flat chests and a penis?”

Hibiya nodded. “Yes. Why would we not?”

**_‘So Roppi really wasn’t lying.’_ **

“If I were to cum inside,” Delic asked, “would I impregnate you?”

Hibiya cocked a brow. “Of course. Have you never questioned why I demand you pull out?”

**_‘They have male pregnancies.’_ **

“I couldn’t understand why referencing a ninemil has a different word for referencing a ninepow. The ‘boku’ and ‘atashi’****. I don’t understand that. Nor the ‘he’ ‘she’.”

“It’s not in reference to the ninemil or ninepow. Or maybe it does.” Delic rubbed his hand through his hair. “It’s complicated. Gender isn’t easy to understand when you’ve never heard of it. It’s like trying to explain what a feather is to someone who’s never seen a feather before.”

“That doesn’t seem that hard.”

“It is incredibly hard.”

“Well, we have nothing but time today.”

Delic chuckled. He then leaned closer. “We could do something far more fun than lectures.”

Hibiya immediately blushed. “You-you pervert.”

Delic grinned. He leaned even closer and closer. He got on all four to crawl on top of Hibiya. The raven leaned back until he had to rest on his elbows, turning his wings outwards so he didn’t bend any of his feathers.

“Hey, Hibiya,” Delic smiled. “If I make us a house, would you like to have a baby with me?”

Hibiya’s eyes stretched wide. His eyes glistened with emotions that Delic didn’t fully understand as his whole face turned red.

“You-you,” Hibiya stammered. “You want to have a b-baby?”

“Of course.” Delic leaned in close to plant a kiss on Hibiya’s cheek. “I know I don’t say it enough, but I love you, Hibiya. And I think I’m ready to start a life with you. If you’ll have me, if you’ll give me the time to make a house for us, I would want you as my ‘life-mate’.”

Tears began to sting Hibiya’s eyes. He looked up at Delic with an expression that confused the blond. He looked happy, scared, and emotional all in one go. He then wrapped his arms around Delic’s neck and hugged him tightly. Delic’s eyes widened.

“Are you okay?” Delic asked hastily. “Was that too soon to ask? Did I overstep my—”

“No! No…” Hibiya said through a throat full of emotion. “I am happy. I am so happy!”

“You-you are?”

“Yes.” Hibiya hugged him tight. “I am scared. But I am happy too.”

Delic stared at him from the corner of his eye. Then he smiled and hugged Hibiya back. He lied down over Hibiya on the blanket.

“I’m scared too.” Delic said. “We’re going to have a lot to do. We might have to leave the mountain range.”

“Where would we go?”

“Anywhere. But…if things go as planned, you might be able to come live with me in my village. We could make a house here, within these woods.”

“Go as planned?”

“It’s complicated, beloved. I promise to explain it all in full.” Delic leaned back, propping himself on his elbows, to make proper eye contact with Hibiya. “Nothing’s set in stone, so I don’t want to get your hopes up. But regardless, I want to make a life with you.”

Hibiya smiled, tears still prominent. “I…I must say, I had feared that you were only with me for a physical relationship. I feared you loved me for my body. A relationship that you could easily throw away when you decided to ‘marry’ another human.”

Delic’s brows furrowed with obvious hurt. “…Yeah, I deserve that. But you know, I thought the same thing. That you’d eventually grow tired of this secret affair we were having and eventually take a life-mate in your clan.”

Hibiya chuckled. “Seems we were both being pessimistic fools.”

Delic smiled. He then bumped forehead with the raven. “Yeah, we were.”

The two shared a soft laugh.

“I love you, Hibiya.”

“I love you as well, Delic.”

**Author's Note:**

> *Tomago-kake-gohan is steamed rice with a raw egg on top. Usually, the rice will warm the egg to a half-cooked state but most use the egg as a sauce for their rice, along with some soy sauce. It’s a traditional Japanese breakfast.
> 
> **Kare Pan is deep fried stuffed buns, filled with Japanese curry—Japanese curry is different from other Asian curries as they’re usually never spicy.
> 
> ***Korokke is a patty of mashed potatoes, filled with whatever you want, from carrots, to meat, to gravy. It is then rolled in breading and deep fried.
> 
> ****Sorry if this sounds conceited. This is for anyone who is an English-speaker exclusive and hasn’t study any form of secondary language. English is the only language (That I know of) that doesn’t have male and female references to most words. ‘I’ is ‘I’. ‘The’ is ‘the’. He and she are the only gender-based words. In all other languages—Spanish, Japanese, French, you name it—sentences are separated by male or female definitive. If a male is talking, they’ll say ‘Boku’ (male for I) for Japanese, ‘le’ (male for the) in Spanish, and ‘un’ (male for a) in French.
> 
> Examples:
> 
> Japanese—"I” Boku (male)/atashi or atai (female)
> 
> French—“a/an” un (male)/une (Female)
> 
> Spanish—“The” le (male)/la (Female) In Spanish, if a word ends in an ‘a’, it is most-likely feminine. If it ends in ‘e’ it most-likely male. And words will change from e to a depending of the gender based behind it.
> 
> \---
> 
> So, all the Coravik that Hibiya spoke without explanation go in order:
> 
> Ina—no
> 
> Qavo—stop
> 
> Ibai—please
> 
> Bata—yes
> 
> Brétowai—wait
> 
> Hénaik—ouch/ow
> 
> Dizang—jerk (insult). Jerk (verb) is Zangro.
> 
> Óka—warm
> 
> Óka-ti—hot
> 
> Waah, I’m doing it again, my guys! Why do I start series when I have a laundry list of others I need to do, goddammit! I’m so bad! I’ve always had a habit of biting off more than I can chew and overload myself with projects one after the other after the other, which leads to me having to put works on haitus, which I hate doing! Kill me. T.T
> 
> Well, anyway, onto the story. So, this one was based around language. I would have had more in but that took more effort than I was willing to export at this point in time.
> 
> Hibiya and Delic had a very dub-con relationship, but it fit so perfectly since this is a story with rape culture. Without Tsuki and Roppi’s spearhead of change, this was the closest a human and Coravak could get to a consensual relationship of normalized sexual assaults. Delic didn’t have the courage to be the change so instead, he hid Hibiya like a dirty little secret. It all works out in the end and the two are happy, but they didn’t necessarily have a healthy relationship. However, I couldn’t help rooting for the two despite all that.
> 
> Just saying, 15 is the lowest I’m willing to go as far as sex scenes and that’s only within an age appropriate margin—ergo, the Romeo and Juliet Law. 2 years apart at most at the time the oldest turns 18. Most kids lose their virginity in high school, there’s no going around that. But it should be in high school—not middle school—and at least second year (sophomore). Freshman’s are off limits, ya creeps. >:( Anything lower than that, in my opinion, should remain nothing more than an implication.
> 
> Anyhow, anyhow, there are going to be at least three more pairings with this concept and then back to Tsuki/Roppi’s tale. Hope you stick with me until then.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Be sure to comment, kudo’s, and all that jazz. See you in the next one.
> 
> KCK


End file.
